ADILABAD: Eight contract workers and their supervisor have remained trapped in the Shantikhani coal mine of the Singareni Collieries Company Limited (SCCL) at Bellampalli town in Adilabad district for 22 hours following a technical snag in the lift that transported them.The workers were trapped at 11 pm on Wednesday and rescue teams managed to rescue them at 9 pm on Thursday.The workers _ M Anjaiah, M Satish, G Kistaiah, B Shankar, P Sattaiah, G Sampath, M Prasad, and Ch Satish _ along with their supervisor Sampath entered the Shantikhani coal mine around 11 pm on Wednesday. They were scheduled to return to the surface at 7 am in the morning on Thursday. When the fresh group of workers arrived for the first shift at 7 am, they observed that the lift was not working and informed the management.Rescue teams were sent immediately to enter the 284-metre-deep mine. The rescuers carried food and water for the trapped workers. Meanwhile, technical teams began repairing the lift and brought it to order by 7 pm. After a test run, the lift was used to bring the workers above the ground.Terming their experience as horrific, the workers told the officials that they feared for their lives as they were unable to contact the surface for several hours. They said they heaved a sigh of relief only at the sight of the rescue teams around noon. The SCCL management has leased the coal mine to a private contractor for excavation of coal, it is learnt.
Comments
0 comment